DISMAY at the approval of controversial plans for 265 new homes in Rockwell Green has been tempered for Wellington Town Council with news of what is being called a £420,000 ‘cil-ver’ lining.

The money will be paid to the town council by developers Gladman Developments to meet its Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) obligations.

Added to a further £195,000 CIL money generated by the recently-started Jurston Farm development, it means town councillors will have more than a £600,000 windfall in the next few years.

Town councillor John Thorne, who is also one of Wellington’s two county councillors, told the WWN: “CIL money is cash we can use in all sorts of ways to help improve life for residents of Wellington and Rockwell Green.

“Councillors are going to be taking some important decisions in the next few years on how we spend this money to benefit the town.

“We know our roads need improving to cope with increasing amounts of traffic, new playing pitches are needed for our football, rugby and hockey clubs, our youth services need support, our public library needs protecting, and so much more.

“I feel the town council currently stands at a crossroads, as we have been pushing an agenda for the past three years to do much more for Wellington ourselves without relying so much on the Deane and county councils.

“The CIL monies from the new housing developments will give us a massive opportunity to kick on, but first we have elections next May and the make-up of the council could change, and if it does, we won’t know if the new councillors will share the same enthusiasm for doing more.”

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.